Information Systems and Their Interaction with Organisations

In this chapter we shall use what Silver, Markus and Beath (1995) have referred to as an IT interaction model as a means of discussing the key focus of information systems as a discipline and, in particular, the place of IS development activities within organisations. We prefer to call it an IS/IT interaction model because we wish to include both IS and IT in our discussion. This model is useful in discussing the place of information systems in organisations. It is referred to as an interaction model because it is founded on the premise that the consequences of IS in organisations follow from the interaction of the technology with the organisation and its environment. The effects of an information system for an organisation emerge over time as the result of the interaction of the IS with its organisational context. Understanding the nature of this interaction is therefore central to obtaining the benefits of IT as well as avoiding the hazards that IT can hold for organisations (see figure 38.1).